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Piper Chapman
vaginaPiper Elizabeth Chapman, portrayed by Taylor Schilling, is the main character in the original Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Piper is based on the author of "Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison" by Piper Kerman, it is her story that the series revolves around. In an interview by a YouTube channel known as 'HeyUGuys', Schilling explains that the show is not trying to 'impersonate' the author. Piper Chapman is an individual character who does not solidly resemble Kerman and her experience in prison, however as the series was inspired by her book, some of the events in the series are similar to those that take place in her publication. Background She was born on June 7, 1981. Looking for a job after graduating from college Piper, a self-proclaimed WASP from an upper middle-class family, meets edgy Alex Vause at a bar. Though she has never dated a woman before, they quickly begin a relationship. In love and thirsting for adventure, Piper is unbothered by the fact that her girlfriend is an international drug smuggler. They travel the world together in high style, and on one occasion Piper agrees to traffick a suitcase full of $50,000 in drug money to to Belgium to help Alex out. The job nearly goes wrong when the suitcase doesn't arrive on the same plane, and fearing for her life, Piper refuses to ever do it again. Piper introduces Alex to her best friend Polly - who doesn't like Alex. It's implied that Piper met Alex's mom. Like most relationships, Piper and Alex settle into a pattern and let the stresses of the real world creep into their personal life. With her back up against a wall, Alex eventually begs Piper to start trafficking again, but she refuses, with the resulting blow-up putting an end to their relationship - much to Alex's heartbreak. Years later, Piper meets Larry Bloom, a mutual friend of Polly and her eventual husband, Scott. They connect at first sight, and quickly fall for each other. Larry is also a writer, and a willing participant in Piper's adventurous spirit, as the couple try trendy fads like "juicing" together. Piper and her pregnant best friend, Polly, are in the early stages of setting up their own homemade soap company, and Piper is settling into a life of domestic bliss with Larry, when two federal officers show up to charge her for the suitcase of money she smuggled into Belgium a decade earlier, reporting that one of the conspirators named her in their investigation. Despite the fact that his family is less than enthusiastic about Larry's flighty "shiksa" girlfriend with a homosexual past, Larry's father signs on as her defense attorney, and advises her to plead out before trial. Thus, she is indicted on a charge of criminal conspiracy and sentenced to 15 months at Litchfield Penitentiary, a Federal Correctional Institution in upstate New York. Personality Piper is well-educated, resourceful, adventurous, and personable, but also flighty and self-centered even if she means well. She has spent her life fighting with words and not physically, which causes her to come off as a naive know-it-all to the other inmates. Her privileged upbringing and freedom of opinions has given her a sense of entitlement that gets her into trouble in prison, especially when provoked by those she views as less intelligent or cultured than her - namely homophobic guard Sam Healy, and junkie evangelical inmate Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett. She believes in the academic philosophy that sexuality exists on a sliding scale and cannot always be classified. As such she is primarily attracted to men, but does not deny her romantic attraction to Alex. Physical Appearance Piper has blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fish tattoo on the back of her neck. She is tall and thin, and so typical of the perfect female stereotype that her nickname in prison quickly becomes "Blondie." She usually wears a white t-shirt under her tan jumpsuit, and she notes that the prison-issue canvas slip-ons look like trendy Toms. Chapman, Piper Chapman, Piper Chapman, Piper Category:Season 2 Characters